Electrically actuated and controlled self-playing musical instrument.



Na. 812,117. PATENTBD FEB. 6, 1996. G. H. DAVIS.

ELBGTRICALLY AG'IUATED AND CONTROLLED $ELF PLAYING MUSIGAL INSTRUMENT. V7 ufimnmn 1 1mm 1m .22 1 4. V a a slums-$332: 1!

No. 812,117 PATENTED FEB. 6, was.

r e H. DAVIS.

ELBCTRICALLY AUTUA'FED A EID CONTROLLED SELF PLAYING M INSTRUMENT.mnren'mn FILED M219, we;

tm w: E E

USICAL No. 812,117. PATBNTED FEB. 6, 1906.

e. a 13A?I& BLEUTRIGALLY AGTUATED 3&1) CONTRQLLED SELF PLAYIIQG HUSIGALINSTRUMEET.

APPLICATION PELEB H3319, 1994. 3 8HEET8BKT 3.

@uwuton STATES PATENT GFFICE. onoses HOWLETT DAvIs. 6F WEST ORANGE, NEWJERSEY. nee-macaw mums Ass cssrsenso SELF-PtAYiNG susm iss'rausm.

Specification of Letter: latent.

hen on inch as, less. Serial in. moses.

To (115 whom is may wanes-vs.-

Be it known that I, Gsonsn Hownnrr DA- vis, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Wat Orange, in the county of Essex and 5 3mm of NewJersey, have invented new and useful ingrcvements in Electrieailvscinated and struments, of which the following is a specifica. on. [0ig? present invention has relation to new and useful improvements ineieetrieslly actusted and controlled self-playing attachments for pianosand other ice ed musical instru ments, and more ertic erly toself-playing 15 attachments whic embody in their structure a pluralityof key-actuating devices, which are controlled by eleetroins netic meansto strike the keys oi the musics instrument.

The primary object of-the invention is to to provide &E1i?IGVBd andefficient means for sngpiying the electric current to the variouselectrieeily-opersted devices embodied in the attseisinent and also forsupplying the power necessary to impart rotation to the several 2 5rotatable elements included therein.

A further objeet is to construct, in comhis' nation with anelectrically-operated attsshment, an electric machine which may be energized by a current from s bstteryor other o=souree to serve as a.motor for the moving Farts of the attachment, and also to reside ordispensing with the batteries an transferming the eieetric machine intoa. generator to snp siy eieetrie ennent to the key-scenes- 35 mg means.

A further object is to so arrange end consir-sot the motive endgenerative noses of the attachment that-they may be sstisfsetoriiy,eflieiently, and safely opemteiiby e (ii- 4o rmt or alternatingcommercial circuit of any solisge or niiase.

A iurther object is-to provide 9. field niece or casting for theelectric machine which will also serve as a. part of thesupporting-fren1e 5' for the rotsting srts oi the attachment.

Before perticu srly describing the elements and combinations of elementsfor accomplishing the sbiwesteted objects of In invention I would stateinst heretofore t e employ 5o ment of high-voltage eom'niereiel electric cireuits for actuating eleetsomegnetic pienopla. ers provedexpensive, unsatisfactory, en dangerous, owing to the feet that the es:-cess oi poteniinl senses the contacts to spark ontrolled Self-PlayingMusics! 111- sn sient to ignite the latter and 111 whenfirokennrsensrsted by the music-sheet wl'1ich sparks eiisirfilhe sheetand have been known to ignite the same and cause disastronsconfiagretions; By the means to be hereinefter set ferigi: filecommercial current is expender tnpon e prime mot or which (iii vesagenerate!- eresting a current of sufficient petentiai to groperiyenergize the key-eetuei. ing means, out not as great as the current ofthe cominexeiel current. The winding for, say; sixtyiive magnets, withor withent externsl snark-reducers, of sufficientiy high re sistence isexpensive when compared with magnets whiskers wound for onli four volts,

es in. .resent device. 1ft e slightest oross; or s on; circuit occurs ins device hevin'gs iiigi -gotential currentcirenisting thrnngn'ztsseveral parts, then the increases 1; l oeonfi-ing at the paper notesneet'sre the fiestmetion of the sheet sngi ins ing 'nsention not onlygreatly 7 sostfnf'tiie magnets, butsise entire obvielges niiisnger fromsparking at the net's-sel ieentssssfingers and permits fineseinzst-iensfisisesneting currents for eisetseinsgnetie musicalinstruments, which essay knowledge has neves heretofore beenpracticable.

'The invention consists in the novel arrange ment and nggroupnient ofthe various elements in operative combination, to be more fullydescribed hereinafter and the novelt-v of which :wiii be particularlypointed out anil distinctly eleirneds, 7

I aocoinnl is sboyeset forth by the structure snii sirslnge nisntjo'fjeieinenes set forth in the eessin isnyingiii'swings, to be taken ass pert of this Specification, and wl1erein- Figu ne 22. view in rontelevation of the field-casting of an electric machine or dynamo, saidfiel -casting being so constructed asto constitute a rt of the frame ofthe instrument. This eld-castingabove referred .to is yoke-shaped inelevation and consists of w 4 as consisting ofscrews. This member 3 isprovided at one end with adowaiwardly-mojected portion 5.,which'constitutes one of the pole-pieces of the machine, as willpresently appear. the memb r 3 is a vertical portion or magnetcore 6,provided at its op site ends with proper windings 7 7, who, ashereinafter described are adapted under certain circumstances to beenergized to operate the electric machine as a motor, said winding beingsuitably connected with a source of electrical supply. These windings 77 areseparated from each other at their inner ends by a space 8, on theinner" side of which is provided a bearing 9 for a purpose to more fullappear hereinafter.- .From the lower end of the member 6 thefield-casting is formed to provide an inwardly-directed member 10, lyingparallel to the member 3 and provided at its extreme inner portion witha vertical extension 11 in alinement with the pole-piece 5 andconstituting the opposite pole-piece of the machine.

Arranged to rotate between the pole-pieces 5 and 11 is the armature 12,which is mounted on a shaft 13, the rotation of which is employed to imart movement to the elements em odiedin t e structure of theattachmentas, for instance, a music-sheet, One end of this shaft isrotatably mounted in the bearing 9 on the field-casting heretoforementioned, and adjacent this end of the shaft 13 is the commutator 14for the armature, said commutatorbeing engaged by brushes 15 15, mountedyupon supports. 16, arranged between the pole-pieces and thefield-magnet and provided with connections or bindingposts 17, asclearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

Extending downwardly from the inner end of the member 9 is an extensionor hanger 18, provided at its lower end with a bearing 19, in which isjournaled the gudgeon of the drum 21, said drum being provided at itsend portion with pulleys 22 23, which serve a purpose to be more fullyset forth hereinafter. The hanger 18 is also provided at its sideportion preferably with a laterally and vertically extending bracket orarm 24, to the upper terminal of which is secured one end of themagnet-rail 25, upon which are supported the magnets 26, which whenenergized attract their armatures 27 to throw the shoes 28 intooperative engagement with the Depending from the outer end of,

drum 21 to actuate the key-operating device's, all of which appears atlarge in my Patents Nos. 546,852, September 17, 1895, 719,092, January27, 1903, and 719,093, January 27, 1903, and whichI do not deemcitnecessary to illustrate or describe in detail in this application.

The circuit for energizing the field-casting of 1 the machine and the manets controlling the key-actuating means wil now be described.Electrically connected to the upper brush of the generator is aconductor 29, which extends to and is connected to a binding-post 29",arranged on a connectin board 29*, mounted on the member 10. rom thehinding-post the wire 29 is connected to one of the magnets 26 b a wire29, and the circuit is continued by conductor 30, leading from themagnet 26 and electrically connected to the metallic finger 33, formingone member of the note-selecting device, which finger contacts themetallic roller'31, which is traversed by the perforated music-sheet 32,said roller constituting the second member of the noteselecting device.a conductor 34 with a second binding-post 34, mounted on theconnecting-board 29 and the circuit is completed by a conductor 34",connected to the lower brush of the generator. I

In the drawi s I have shown the completed circuit fo i' but one of themagnets 26, as this showing is all that is deemed necessary for thepurposes of this application, as it wil be understood that a similarcircuit is provided for each magnetthat is to say, thereis a separatewire connecting each of the fingers 33 with its corresponding magnet andthat the wire 29 is connected in a suit able manner with all of saidmagnets.

The circuit above described under the construction heretofore used isenergized by a batter 35, said battery being in connection with t emotor and magnet circuits and provided with a suitable cut-out 36, bymeans of which it may be disconnected from said circuits. This batteryis continuously in circuit with the motor-circuit, being arrangedbetween the music-sheet roll and the motor, and is in circuit with themagnet whenever contact is made by the selecting-fingers with saidcontact-roller. When the cut-out is closed and the motor and magnetcircuits are completed, it will be seen that the armature of the motorwill be rotated to drive the shaft 13, upon which is mounted a pulley37. traversed by a ulley-belt 38, which also passes over the pu ley 23to drive the drum 21. It will be seen that in this case the electricmachine acts as a motor to drive the various moving arts of theattachment, all of which act in t e manner set forth in the patentsabove referred to granted to me.

The arrangement just referred to will be The roller is connected by s amfound quite satisfactory where a battery must he depended upon forsupplying the current to the motor and the magnet; circuits; but incases where it is possible to use the ordinary commercial circuit the.battery may be dispensed with'hy throwingout the cut-out anddisconnecting the col'iductors from the field-windings and connectingthem to the binding- )osts 17 on the brushes of the motor, so that therotation of the armature will convert the motor for supplying the powerto the attachment into a generator for supplying the current for themagnet-circuits. o supply the power to the rotative arts of the attaohme-nt and also to rotate t e armature to generate current, I rovidea mot-or 38, which is placed by snitch e connections into circuit withthe commercial line. This motor carries on its armature-shaft a pullev39, which is connected to the pulley 22 on the drum 21 by means of abelt 40. so that the rotation of the armature of the motor 38 drives thedrum 21 and through the belt 40 the shaft 13 and the armature 12 of themotor, which action of the motor 38 drives all the rotatable parts ofthe attachment and rotates the arnmturc 12 of the convertible machine tooperate said machine as a generator to supply current to the magnctcircuit. This use of the motor 38, actuated by a commercial circuit,will be found to be an important step in this art, for the reason thatby such arrangement and use the force of the current'in the commercialcir cuits does not "ct into the magnet-circuits and endanger ihemusic-sheet and instrument by sparkin A further advantage to he claimedfor the use of a generator in this connection is that;

the battery may be dispensed with entirely and the current generatedwithin the attachment itself without exterior connections and circuits.In the species shown in Fig. 3 a simple structure is shown for use. whenthe electric machine employed is not a motor to be converted into agenerator, hut is a generator in the first instance. In this structurethe form of the field-casting is the some as that shown in Fig.1 andalso the arrangcment of the armature. hrush -s, armatureshalt.magnet-rail, and drum; but, the armature-shaltinstead of having hearingat one end in the field-casting is projected entirely through saidcasting and is provided at its end with a. pulley 40, which is connectedlay a belt 42 to a policy 43 on the motor-shallot the prime motor 44instead of being driven indirectlfl'roul the pulley 23 on the drum 21,as shown in Fig. 1. .ln this modified form the motor 44 is snpportcllupon a platform or bracket which consists of a vertical member 45,securely bolted t n-tho depending hanger is on the tieldaaasting, as at46, and at its lower end this vertical member is provided with ahorizontal platform 47 connected to the said member and additionallybraced by an inclined brace member 48. T iis platform serves as asupport upon which the base of the prime motor rest-s and is secured.

T ie magnet-circuits from the dynamo, it is thought, will be readilyunderstood without, re eating the description of such circuits as reierring to Fig. 1 when 118,2110i0! is emploved as u dynamo.

It will also be apparent that in cases where the commercial circuit isnot available or is not desired to be usedsome other form of means forrotating the armature of the dynamo may be employed, such as amanualt-readle, spring-motor, or water-motor.

The term electric-machine or dynamo as hereinbefore employed is intendedto be taken as covering any electrical device which receives electricalenergy and ives out power mechanically or which may he operated bymechanical power to ive out electric energy.

Having fullv described my invention rhat I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patrcut, is-

1. An 'electrically-controlled playing attachment for musicalinstruments embodying a plurality of electromagnets, a dynamo forming apart of the attachment, circuit connections between the dynamo and saidmagnets, and aprime motor for driving the dynamo.

2. In an electrically-controlled musical instrument, a. dynamo,electrically-controlled plaving devices in circuit with the dynamo, anda prime motor to drive the d 'namo.

3. In an electrically-controlle musical in- 100 strtunent, thecombination with a drum and magnet-controlled )laying devices, of a.dynamo in circuit, with said magnets and a motor to drive said dynamoand the drum.

4. In an electrieally-coirtrolled musical in- .struinent, thecombination with a plurality of magnetic controlling devices and a railto support said devices, of adynamo in circuit wit i said magnets, thefield-casting of which constitutes a support; for the rail.

In an electrically-controlled musical instrument, the combination witha-plurality of magneticcontrolling devices, a rail to support saiddevices and a drum, of a dynamo in circuit with the operating devices,the fieldcasting of said dynamo including an arm serving as a supportfor the rail and a hanger in which the drum is jonrnaled.

6. In an electrically-controlled musical instrument controlled by anote-sheet,the com- 'hination with magnetic controlling devices andmeans to feed the note-sheet, of an electric machine capable of useeither as a. motor or as a generator of current, and connections wherebyit may he used as a motor to drive the sheeteleoding means, a circuitincluding said machine and the magnetic controlling devices, a. batteryto supply current to run the motor and energize the controlling devicesa, In testimony whereof I have hereunto set eut-o ut to disconnect thebattery from said my hand in presence of two' subscribing witcireuit,and means to operate the machine as nesses.

a. generator when the battery is disconnected GEORGE HOVVLETT DAVIS. 5from said circuit, for s up lying current to the ,Witnesses: l circuitwhich includes 1; e magnetic control- SPENCER G. AYnEs,

1mg devices. WM. WALTON.

